Carlos Hyde's biggest challenge in making the Chiefs' 53-man roster

The Kansas City Chiefs running back group has the makings of an interesting battle as the team begins Phase Three of the NFL offseason program.

Free agent acquisition Carlos Hyde might be hyped up as a big signing because of name recognition, but he’s not a lock to make the Chiefs’ 53-man roster. The team can release him ahead of the 2019 season and save nearly $2 million against the salary cap, while eating less than a million in dead money.

The biggest thing standing in the way of Hyde and making the Chiefs’ roster is his history as a receiver in the NFL. Hyde has often been replaced as the primary receiving back, because he’s just not been very good in that department during the course of his career.

Damien Williams a huge post-draft winner. He's going to play a ton in 2019 because Carlos Hyde has been a truly sub-par pass catcher since he entered the NFL:

The 71 percent catch rate isn’t as bad as it’s made out to be. That’s a higher percentage than Hall of Famer Terrell Davis had in his career, but the yards per target and after catch marks are abysmal. There are far too many plays like this that appear throughout Hyde’s career:

Jimmy Garoppolo throws a perfect deep pass under pressure to Carlos Hyde, who slowed up and couldn’t bring it in. Should have been a touchdown. #49erspic.twitter.com/B94ObAgWfX

When Hyde entered the NFL out of Ohio State, he was coming off a strong season as a pass catcher. He caught 16 passes for nearly 150 yards and three touchdowns in 2013. It was that type of production that led teams to believe that he could fill the receiving role well in the NFL. Five seasons into his NFL career, and catching the ball simply hasn’t been his strength.

The big concern here for Hyde has to be his competition. Darrel Williams had a 100 percent catch rate in 2018 in a limited role on just three targets. Sixth-round pick Darwin Thompson caught 23 passes and turned it into over 300 yards and two touchdowns in the 2018 at Utah State. Undrafted free agent James Williams was PFF’s highest-rated receiving back in college football for three seasons running.

The Chiefs have expanded their emphasis on catching the football as a running back with Patrick Mahomes as their quarterback. Even Kareem Hunt spent time working on improving as a receiver ahead of the 2018 season.

The Chiefs had four running backs on the 53-man roster in 2018 and they could go that route again in 2019. Whether Hyde makes the Chiefs’ roster will depend largely on his ability to improve and stay consistent in that area throughout the remainder of the offseason program. It’s hard to believe that the Chiefs would keep Hyde over another back with a skill set better-suited toward playing out of shotgun and catching the football at all levels of the field.

Email

Like this article?

Sign up for the Chiefs Wire email newsletter to get our top stories in your inbox every morning

An error has occured

Please re-enter your email address.

Thanks for signing up!

You'll now receive the top Chiefs Wire stories each day directly in your inbox.